Chapter Twenty-One
Harley
T he second I know all the guys are sleeping soundly, I wiggle my way out from between them and throw on some leggings, sneakers, and one of Ryker’s black hoodies. On my way downstairs, I toss my hair into a messy bun before I go wandering around looking for someone.
It’s late, but based on how much he was drinking, I really doubt he ever went to bed. I need a distraction from what happened upstairs, and I know exactly what is going to make me feel better.
The guys had filled me in the other day about the nightclub burning down and that they knew it was Tammy. Everyone is livid, now that she just popped back up but I knew something like this was coming since she came and taunted me. I’m glad she wasn’t targeting them during the month I was gone.
They let me know they were keeping an eye on Tammy, and it would be time to deal with her as soon as I was ready. When I announced I was ready right then and there, they said no. I wasn’t.
Well, maybe I’m not fully ready to face her, and we have so many other things going on right this second, but that doesn’t mean I can’t send her a little warning in the meantime. Knowing after such a raw encounter the guys were not going to want me to do anything tonight, I have to find the person who I know will get on board.
After not finding him anywhere upstairs or on the main floor, I head downstairs and find him running on the treadmill, music blasting through the room. As I approach, he notices me and stops the treadmill before heading over to pause the music.
“Harley, what are you doing?” Noah furrows his brows as he breathes heavily.
“Are you working out drunk?” I tilt my head at him.
He scoffs. “No. It’s two in the morning. I stopped drinking a long time ago and then fucked my way through a few sluts and then came down here.”
“I didn’t need to know that detail.” I scrunch my nose.
“Don’t be a prude. You have three boyfriends.” He rolls his eyes at me. “Now, what are you doing?”
“I was looking for you. Remember when I first came here and Daniel betrayed the club and you took him to your little room at the nightclub and I followed you with Daniel?”
He nods. “Yeah, I remember getting my ass kicked after.”
“Well, I remember you trusting me to know myself and letting me let some of my anger out for the first time ever.”
He smirks. “What do you want to do, little sister?”
After explaining my plan, Noah is quick to be on board, considering it’s his nightclub he lost.
Gathering the supplies we need, I meet a now-showered Noah at his truck, and he helps me load the stuff into the bed before we climb in and he starts driving.
“What’s going to happen now that the nightclub is gone?” I ask him.
“I don’t know. I worked my ass off to make that nightclub what it was. It became my home away from home and a place I had that was just mine. I love my brothers, don't get me wrong, but raising those three wasn’t easy, and I didn’t feel qualified most of the time. So, Dirty Sinner was just my thing. Sugar said I can decide what happens now, but I don’t know. Maybe it’s time to move on.” He shrugs, but I can tell by his tone that isn’t what he really wants.
“Don’t let her do that,” I huff.
“What?” He pulls his eyes away from the road to glance at me.
“Don’t let Tammy take something away from you. She has taken so much from me, and she is partially to blame for my dad being taken from all of us. Don’t let her take this. Rebuild, put in the work to make it even better than before. The guys are adults now and are deciding what they want for their futures. You are free to do the same.”
“You’re right.” He nods. “I’ll have to put some thought into it, and it probably won’t happen right away. I have to get my shit together first.”
“I know losing Gabe hurts.” His shoulders tense up, but I don’t stop. “Just know that I am his daughter, so I feel like it’s my duty to personally kick your ass if you let losing him fuck up your future.”
Noah laughs. “I’ll hold you to that. I have an idea of what the boys want with their futures, but what about you? When this is all said and done, what does Harley want?”
“I want to breathe,” I murmur and glance out the window, hoping he will let the topic go for now. I don’t know what I want to do with my future, but I do know my one goal right now is to just finally breathe and not feel like I am suffocating.
Pulling up to our destination, Noah glances at me. “Ready?”
“Fuck yes.”
Standing at the bed of the truck, we gather our supplies. “If they’re home, what’s the plan?”
Before I can answer him, his phone starts to ring, and he’s quick to answer it on speaker. “Care to tell me what you are doing?”
“Not really,” Noah says back.
“Blade,” Nerds sighs, seeming exhausted. “Just fucking tell me.”
“Harley and I are going to send a little warning about burning down things that don’t belong to them.” He tells him, without any snarky comments clearly picking up on the same tone as I did.
“Hmm, fine. Give me a second,” Nerds rasps. We can hear him typing and his mouse clicking before he says, “Their car is in Virginia right now. Be careful in case one of them is still home.”
After hanging up, Noah stops me from grabbing the gas cans. “Harley, in all seriousness, what is the plan if one of them is here? You ready for that?”
I grin, which throws him off slightly as he eyes widen. Reaching into the black bag in the bed of the truck, I pull out coils of rope I found in the safe slash gun room downstairs.
“Tie them up, maybe have some fun, then put them in the basement and listen to them scream like I’ve wanted to for three fucking years.”
“You know, when you allow yourself to feed this unhinged side I think you have hidden in you, you could rival me for my position as enforcer.” He says, dead serious.
I shrug. “I don’t love this side of me, but sometimes, it feels like it’s the only way I can ever find a way to be free.”
“Alright. Let’s fucking do this,” he says, grabbing the gas cans and bag we brought, ready to move on from the serious talk.
We keep to the side of the driveway by the trees as we walk down the long road of the Wilson driveway. As we approach the house, Noah asks, “Where do you want to do this?” He shakes the gas cans.
Locking eyes with him, I say, “The basement.”
“You sure?” he questions, no pity on his face, which makes this much easier to handle.
“Yes.”
“I can get the front door open. If anyone is home and awake, shoot first, ask questions later, got it?”
I nod, pulling my gun out of my leggings waistband as he picks the front door lock. Easily getting it open, we walk inside, checking our surroundings as we make our way through the house, checking for anyone.
My heart thuds against my chest at just being back in this house that hasn’t changed at all since I was here last. I don’t know whether I am hoping one of them is home.
But when we check the final room before heading down to the basement, I can’t help the trickle of disappointment that takes root at the house being empty.
When we get to the basement door, I take a deep breath, and Noah leans in close to murmur, “You don’t have to go down. I can, but I think you would regret that.”
“I would. I have to do this. Just stay with me?”
“Always, little sister.” He winks at me as we head down the stairs into the basement that changed me forever. The last time I was here was healing and brought me a new sense of peace about this time in my life, so I hold onto that moment as we pour gas all over the room and bathroom.
Once we are done, Noah gestures for me to head up the stairs first as he pours more gas on the stairs behind us. At the top, he pulls out some matches and hands them to me.
Staring down at them, I take a breath before lighting one up. “I wish all my memories of this place could burn with this house,” I whisper and toss the match down, watching it immediately light the basement up.
We head back outside the house and stand in the middle of the driveway, waiting for the fire to spread.
“You know those memories won’t always haunt you,” Noah tells me, having heard what I said.
“No, just new ones now,” I snap.
“Don’t be a smartass, princess. I was trying to make you feel a little better.”
“What would make me feel better is throwing your ass in that fire if you don’t stop calling me princess.” I grin over at him.
“You’d miss me, admit it, princess. ” He taunts.
Rolling my eyes I shake my head as smoke begins to billow out and some of the windows light up from the fire spreading. “Let’s go.”
As we pull back up to the club, we find Ryker, Cayden, Grayson, Nerds, and Colton all waiting outside for us.
“Now this brings back some memories,” Noah laughs as he parks and we get out, walking up to them together. Last time we came home, caught from having gone to torture Daniel, my dad was also waiting out here for us, and my heart fucking aches again.
Ryker is the first to move, gripping my wrist and pulling me inside with him. I can hear Cayden outside, hissing something at Noah, who in return chuckles.
“Ryker, where are we going?” I ask, trying to pull away from his grip on my wrist, but he shoots me a look that makes me go silent and just follow. He doesn’t seem angry with me–more so irritated and scared.
He leads us down the hallway towards the stairs to the basement, but he bypasses them and pulls me into the medical room. When we approach a chair by the counter Doc is standing by, Ryker growls, “Sit.”
I do, which is when I notice Grayson followed behind us. “After you and Rage were taken, Nerds and I immediately got trackers together. We shouldn’t have hesitated, but we did. So we got them put in everyone. Everyone has a phone tracker, something they wear everyday tracker, and one under the skin on their arm.”
“You're getting yours right now,” Ryker demands, crossing his arms, almost daring me to say no.
But I won’t. I agree it’s a good idea. “Okay,” I tell them, and Grayson hands Doc a tiny little square.
“Numbing?” Doc asks, holding up a small needle.
“No,” I say at the same time Ryker says, “Yes.”
Rolling my eyes, I shake my head at Doc and grab Ryker’s arm. “It’s okay.”
He narrows his eyes. “Come down to the gym when you're done,” he says before spinning away and leaving the room.
Grayson sighs while Doc just pretends he sees nothing as he gets to work placing the tracker.
After he finishes and puts a small bandage on the site, telling me how to care for it, Grayson and I leave the room. Before we go downstairs, Grayson stops me.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, he grips my hips. “It was hard when you were gone. We felt like we lost a piece of ourselves, and the more days that passed, the more helpless we felt. Nothing was your fault, and you have nothing to feel guilty about, but we all have things to work through now. One of those things is fear you are going to just disappear again. So please, just wake us up. Say something, anything. Please?” He pleads with me.
“Of course. I’m sorry about this morning. I needed out, and I wanted to do something about Tammy to help calm my nerves, and—”
“It’s alright.” He places a kiss on my nose. “Just talk to us. We have to do this all together.”
I nod and lean my head against his chest. “So will you save me from going down there where I am guessing they both are going to make me spar with them?” I whine.
He hums before pulling away and giving me a small smile. “No.”
“So much for you being the reasonable one,” I grumble.
He laughs. “Hey, I am reasonable, which is why I can’t save you. They need it, you need it. Avoiding it would only make it worse.”
“Fine.” I sigh dramatically before placing a kiss on his lips. “Thank you for talking to me like a normal boyfriend.”
“You’re welcome. Stop delaying now. Let’s go.” He takes my hand, and we head downstairs to the gym, where Cade and Ryker are lightly sparring with each other.
When they notice us, Ryker tells me, “Wrap your hands and take the hoodie off.”
Well then. I take the hoodie off, leaving me in leggings and a sports bra, before grabbing some wraps and securing them on my hands. When I get to the center mats, they both stop and face me.
“Anything you don’t think you can manage right now?” Cade asks me.
I shake my head, my throat growing dry at having them both standing in front of me shirtless, their bulky arms crossed over their chests.
“Stretch, and then we’ll do the speed bag before you spar with both of us,” Ryker says.
Knowing I am probably about to get my ass kicked, I sigh and get to stretching while Cade and Ryker share a secret smirk. Fuckers.
Grayson
Not needing to get sucked into the chaos I know is about to ensue in the gym, I sneak out and head back upstairs. When Cade woke us up to say Harley wasn’t in the club, we all were ready to spiral out of control until I got a message from Nerds with what was happening.
I calmed, I was upset she didn’t tell us, but I also understood why she felt the need to just get out after Ryker had called her out about her trauma. I was glad she wasn’t alone, so it was easy for me to let it go, especially once I had eyes on her again, I was fine.
But Cade and Ry were a different story. They were enraged, and it took both Sugar and I talking to them to get them to relax. Ryker demanded the tracker right away, and Cade just kept silently seething that his brother didn’t tell them he left with her.
We all discussed prior to everything that we would be there for Harley but try our best to keep our hands to ourselves unless she initiated it. We wanted her to work up to whatever she wanted. Knowing her, that means that when something happens, she isn’t going to be open about it right away. But what we didn’t take into account was last night, how she might try to push herself in a fight with her own demons to move on faster, to force herself to heal faster because she is sick of feeling this way.
So now, we are at a loss for how to help her. I don’t know what to do besides just make it known I am here for her. I want her to be okay, and I will do whatever is necessary to make that happen. I just wish I could figure out what she needs.
When I get upstairs, everyone is slowly waking up for the day, so a few people are scattered around the main room. My eyes immediately find Lincoln sitting at a table by himself, staring down at a mug of coffee his hands are tightly wrapped around.
Delaying my plan to go to the tech room, I take a seat across from him. “Hey, you okay?” I ask him. We haven’t seen much of them lately, between Atlas going through some intense aftercare since the explosion and them having to take care of the business they own back in Virginia, it has been sparse.
His head snaps up to look at me before he relaxes back in the chair and runs his fingers along the rim of the mug. “Yeah, I guess. We are going back home today. I wish we could stay longer, but…” He shrugs, not finishing his sentence.
“Are all of you guys okay? I know before the explosion and everything you were looking at houses and stuff to move this way. Is that still something that is happening?”
Linc glances around before leaning forward and speaking quietly, “Being honest, no. We aren’t all okay. Brielle won’t tell anyone because she isn’t ready and I won’t break that trust, but we are working through some shit right now. We are still planning to move here, I just don’t know when.”
“I’m sorry you’re going through so much,” I say softly, questions forming in my head. I’m trying my best to hold them back. He clearly isn’t going to tell me what is going on.
“Don’t feel sorry for me. I’ll be fine. I just wish we all could’ve been here for you and the others through all this shit.”
“When it rains, it pours.” I shrug.
He chuckles. “Ain’t that the fucking truth.”
We sit and chat about my plans now that I have graduated high school, we talk a bit about my brother and what it was like when they were around each other. It feels nice, like a breath of fresh air to be able to just sit and talk to someone who knew my brother. I’m glad I decided to give Linc a real chance so I can have some kind of relationship with him.
We are interrupted when Sugar and Nerds come out from the hall with the offices and head our way. Nerds takes a seat next to me while Sugar sits at the head of the table. “Everything alright? I was going to come see if you needed help with anything soon,” I say to Nerds.
“Fine. We were just discussing how to track down Killer,” he tells me as he opens his laptop back up.
“Where are Stone and Axe?” Sugar asks.
I shrug.
He pulls his phone out as he says, “I wanted to talk to them about Killer. Maybe they’ll remember things about him I can’t seem to remember. I’ve been tryin’ to think over who he would have left who he could possibly contact if he had nowhere to go.”
“Who?” Atlas questions as he and Brielle walk into the room and come straight towards us.
“Killer and whoever he has left working with him,” Linc answers as he eyes Brielle. She doesn’t even glance at him as she sits on my other side, Atlas following close behind.
“Where’s Harley?” she asks me.
“Downstairs, working out with Ry and Cade.”
She nods and then looks over at Sugar. “Have you contacted my dad’s club in Virginia?”
He tilts his head in thought. “No, darlin’, I didn’t. I honestly forgot ‘bout him. Rage cut ties with their club so fast after he took over, and they just left us alone after that.”
She grimaces. “Well, he likes to stay out of other people's stuff, but I remember him and Killer talking all the time. I can contact him and see what he says.”
“Brielle…” Atlas growls at her, narrowing his eyes.
“What? He’s the one who called me first. It’s fine. He’ll just think I’m returning his call.” She shrugs.
“Is this somethin’ that is goin’ to put you in danger, Bri?” Sugar questions.
Letting out a sigh, she runs her fingers through her hair and doesn’t look at anyone as she speaks. “A while ago, one of his bikers was admitted to the hospital and got into some trouble. When he found out who I was, he got a little out of hand with me. It was fine and has been dealt with, but my dad has called a few times wanting to speak with me. This would take care of two things at once. He isn’t going to do anything bad to me.”
“Okay.” Sugar nods.
She stands and pulls out her phone, Atlas follows her closely as she walks across the room to speak with him. Lincoln sighs, causing Sugar to glance at him. “Anything we can help with? We are here for y’all.”
He gives a half smile. “Thanks. We’re good for now.”
Brielle comes back over to us, still holding the phone to her ear. She places a finger against her lips before turning the call to speaker. “I just want you to come talk with me, alright? You don’t have to be difficult about it.”
“I’m not trying to be difficult, Dad. I just worry about coming to the club, you know that.”
He sighs. “Fine. We have guests, two guys I knew before we ever moved here. They need to lay low for a bit, but you don't even need to think about them. Just get your ass here so I can talk with you.”
“Okay. I’m out of state, but I’ll be back tonight. So tomorrow?” She raises a brow at Sugar, who nods as her dad responds with a quick fine and ends the call.
“Holy shit, did we just find them?” Nerds’ eyes widen as he glances around.
“Call everyone for emergency church,” Sugar tells him as he rises from his chair.
“We are heading back to Virginia here soon, but if you need us, we are a phone call away,” Atlas tells Sugar as they shake hands.
My mind is still whirling as I slowly stand and head back downstairs to find the others.
When I walk into the gym, it’s to find Ryker yelling at Harley as she boxes in the ring with Cade, who is not holding back. All three of them are dripping sweat but don’t seem ready to stop, so I move towards the wall and take a seat on the bench.
“Come on, Harley, you're falling behind!” Ryker taunts.
“Ready to give up, baby girl?” Cade smirks at her.
“Shut up!” she yells at them as she swings for Cade’s head, but he ducks out of the way. She moves again and manages to hit him twice in the gut before spinning around and kicking him in the side, knocking him down to his knees.
Instead of fighting back, Cade smiles as she moves in to take him down and grabs her hips before he flings her down to the floor. She lands on her back with a hard thud that I wince at, but she doesn’t even react. “Alright, you did good.”
“Fuck off,” she grumbles even as she smiles. Ryker gets back into the ring and lifts her up so she is back on her feet before taking the gloves and wraps off her hands. Cade walks over and grabs a towel and a water bottle before all three work their way towards me.
Harley drops down next to me as Cade hands her the water and lays the towel over her shoulders.
As the guys unwrap their hands and get their own water and towels, I speak. “I have news.”
“Good news?” Ryker asks, glancing up at us with a hopeful expression.
I pinch my lips together before answering. “Yes and no.” I grip Harley’s thigh and look over at her. “We might have found Killer and Tank.”
She blinks once. “Really?”
“Where?” Ryker asks at the same time.
“At Brielle’s dad’s club in Virginia,.” I tell them, looking between them as they both take this in with fairly blank expressions.
Ryker plops onto the ground in front of us while Cade leans against an exercise machine close by. “Why would he go there?” Ry questions.
“Well, it seems like they knew each other way back when, and if he had nowhere to go, it would be a last resort to lay low. We don’t actually know for sure, but Bri talked to him, and he said two old friends are laying low there.”
“So what happens now?” Harley asks, keeping a blank expression.
“Sugar called church, so we just wait to see what they decide from there.”
“What do you need, Harley?” Ryker asks her, scooting forward and gripping her calves.
“A nap.” She says seriously.
We all stare at her, waiting for anything else, and when she realizes it, she chuckles. “I don’t want to think about them until I have to. And to be honest, my brain is so fucking fried right now, I think I could pass out.”
“I got her. You guys go figure out what is happening and then come tell us,” Cade demands, moving forward and scooping Harley up. She squeals and wraps her arms around his neck.
“I can walk.”
He nods once. “Good to know.”
Rolling her eyes, she blows us a kiss as he takes her back upstairs.
Glancing down at Ryker on the floor, I ask, “Everything okay? She seems good now.”
“Yeah, I think we all needed that. We never have to hold back with her, so it helps all of us to get some of the built up energy out. Plus, I think Cade and I needed it to calm down. Although, she is a little too calm about what you said,” he muses.
“I noticed that too. Either she is shutting down or has something up her sleeve.”